Beyond the fact that he had to adjust his game to the point of throwing nearly 40 percent off-speed pitches because of the ailment, there was the immense obstacle that the pain presented.

Even with the assistance of pain-relieving medication following the ALCS win, Beckett still struggled to put his shirt on just before getting exiting the Tropicana Field visitors' clubhouse.

"The one thing I know," Beckett said, "is if I could have gotten the last three innings of that game I can get through anything."

An MRI on Jed Lowrie's left wrist revealed "a small non-displaced fracture". Lowrie may have sustained the injury back in mid-May. After rejoining the Red Sox two months later, he hit .248/.339/.385 the rest of the season. The team says Lowrie's wrist should be back to full strength with three weeks of rest.

Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts quotes SI's Jon Heyman: "...one person who's spoken to Dodgers people suggested that the team is considering proposing a contract to Manny Ramirez that may ..." blah blah blah (my emphasis) Weisman tell us: "How To Survive the Hot Stove League Without Getting Burned".

***

After the Red Sox lost Game 7, I commented that it would neat if Tampa Bay could complete their amazing season by winning the World Series. Well, after watching the first two innings of Game 1 last night, I've changed my mind. I don't necessarily care if the Phillies win, but the Rays annoy me and so they gotta lose.

I was at Lyle Lovett last night but came in for the 8th and 9th and also found myself unreasonably happy at the fact that the Rays were down a run, after insisting on Sunday evening, in front of too many witnesses, that I wanted them to go all the way.

I find myself surprisingly indifferent. Or perhaps not surprisingly. I have no allegiance for either team except that the Rays are in the American League. I have Philadelphia cousins who are Phillies fans, but they taunted me about the Sox losing, so I am not too sympathetic to them now.

They don't annoy me either - I actually think it's neat that if they become future RS rivals, my kids can say they watched it from the beginning. That said, "World Champion Tampa Bay Rays" reminds me of that old skit from PBS "which one of these things is not like the other?" It just does not fit.

I know this is really a reach for a silver lining, but would Beckett have done some permanent damage had he pitched one (or two) more games this season?

I've seen the Phillies twice in my travels over to the States, and I'm pulling for them, although I think the Rays are better.

All I know is that without Boston in the WS, I'm getting a good night's sleep. The WS is not occupying my time at all.

As for Beckett, we all knew something serious was up, but it was a testament to him that he gave it his best shot. He hasn't been right all season, though, to be fair. It certainly did not seem that way from this far away.

I'm still of the view that I'd like to see Boston go after a prime-time starter to improve the rotation, and not sure going back to Derek Lowe would count as that.

How about an open WS thread. Not play by play, but general comments. I guess this is it for now. I was making small bets with a guy I know who is a hard core Yankee fan. We did best record at the allstarbreak (I of course had the RedSox), best record at the end of the season. We bet on two different RS/MFY series, one was a 2 game series that we split, the other was the three game series that the sox lost the first two and one the last one. He took the Angels against the sox, and we went double or nothing with him taking the Rays. So I took the Phillies in the WS thinking that the Rays might have been tired from the 7 game series. And it is hard for me to switch to rooting for a team that just beat the Sox in such a tough series. So, long story short, I hope Philly wins. I have a general tendency to side with AL teams, but I also have a tendency to avoid recent expansion teams. And any team from Florida.

...just woke up from that dream that Tampa beat Boston for the pennant. Oh, wait... shit.

I don't particularly care for the cowbells or the blue mohawks but I'm pulling for the Rays only because they beat the Sox. I'm still a baseball fan to the core.

I'm more curious to see if some of these "Rays fans" that came out of the woodwork late this year show up in 2009. I know I'll be rooting for my team on Day 1, Day 2, and every day after that next season.

Read this on MLBTR, with no links, just a tiny tiny blurb about "many people" believing George W. Bush would like to succeed Bud Selig as Commissioner of baseball.

I'm trying to wrap my head around this - not the likelihood of it happening, but simply what it would be like. My first instinct is to scream bloody murder. My second instinct is... well if Bud Selig could do it... how hard could it be?

It will draw ticket sales one way or another, but how many more might depend on whether they win the series or not. I think they'll have more sellouts next season but I wouldn't look for a large jump in attendance for some matchups like Kansas City and Baltimore.

It's possible there are fake fans in the midst. Many many people don't care about the teams (in any sport, in any location) unless they're doing well and are in the playoffs. I mean, who cares about watching 162 games per season, right? Just watch the ones that matter.